What brand name of computer do you use? Just purchased T400 today

[premiercolour]

My T61 is being repair by Lenovo now. I went ahead and upgraded a T400. I am a loytal customer of Lenovo thinkpad.

My reasons are:

1. superior customer service 24/7.

2. One button away to restore your system to factory state.

3. In any event of repair work needed during warranty period, they will next day you a box with prepaid next day shipping label. They will ship the computer back to you next day after it is repaired. It usually takes 1 business day to repair. Most of the thinkpad does have onsite service.

I just started using T400 couple hours ago, i tell you the processing, browsing speed makes everything so much easy. There is no lag, straight to the page where you wanted it to go(I use the slowest internet speed available through Cox Communication). Your internet browsing speed is not only associate with the internet upload/download speed but has a lot to do with health of your computer.

If you hate your computer, upgrade it to a Lenovo Thinkpad T400(much cheaper than T410). It will make your workload much much easier.

What kind of computer do you use and why?

 

[Locals Find!]

The T410 isn't bad looking for a laptop. How is the battery life in reality though on yours?? Also, do you know what replacements run??

Those are always my biggest factors in choosing Laptops or Notebooks.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I use a Toshiba Qosimio for my laptop. Runs the entire CS5 suite without a problem, even with having 3 programs open at a time. Browsing is a champ. Battery is pretty good considering the power hog that it is(big ass brick too).

All three points that you have for the Lenova, I would say is also true of Toshiba as well.

 

[FatCat]

Been a staunch Mac user since 1994. My current MacBook Pro uses VMWare Fusion to run both the Mac OS and a copy of Windows at the same time. I can run all my Adobe and other design apps on the Mac side, while also running MS Office, MS Publisher, Quickbooks and GraphixCALC Pro on the Windows side. Works very well for me.

 

[jiarby]

I have never bought a retail computer... always built my own.

If I had to have a laptop today I'd have to do some research...the market and components changes fast!

 

[thinksigns]

Two iMacs and a Dell to run the printer.

 

[SignManiac]

My primary work/design box is a Dell Precision T7400 desktop workstation. I like it because it has three monitors and is quite. It's built like a tank and I think it weighs 100 lbs.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I have never bought a retail computer... always built my own.

My main computer is a custom built computer. Laptop I use as either a backup or when I'm out of town and have to do some work with Adobe programs or any of my CAD programs so I can always email the file back here and have someone finish it up or if it has to wait til I get done at least the file is ready to go when I get back.

 

[Rick]

I started with PC's. I'm a Mac user, mostly because the last few sign shops and design firms I worked at used Macs, so when I went home to do work, I had the same equipment.

Been happy with the service so far. My main computer (MacBookPro) rarely crashes and I sometimes push that computer hard.

I have a Dell Desktop too, very happy with that computer too.

I view computers as pencils, just give me one that works and get out of my way. I am not into building or maintaining computers, every 6 months I have a computer tech check the machines.

 

[round man]

I am somewhat like jiarby I usually build my own but during a research assignment for class at the computer school i am currently enrolled in, I stumbled across the specs for the new commodores,...they can run windows,linux, and Mac OS's and with a removable hardrive bay you can have the best of all worlds on one machine the size of a keyboard two inches thick. For around a thousand dollars and the cost of the operating system software you can not beat the versatility of this new machine. Here is the link to the new machine,.....http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers...incarnation-hopes-whats-old-is-new-again/1833

 

[SignLogic]

Always have built my own computer. Get more bang for your buck!

 

[tbaker]

my laptop is an MSI, which is a great value for all the stuff you get.

My desktop is a custom i7 975 that I built, most bang for my buck.

I'm extremely pleased with both.

 

[mikey-Oh]

I have never bought a retail computer... always built my own.

If I had to have a laptop today I'd have to do some research...the market and components changes fast!

ditto

 

[Joe Diaz]

My work computer is homemade.... well not my home but a techie friend's home. I could build it myself. But I don't have much time to do so these days, and have no problem hiring someone else to do it. I like having the guy who built it close by, that way if I have any problems, which knock on wood, so far I haven't, he is just a few minutes away.

I also have an old G4 at work that I turn on once or twice a month to test things on a mac. As macs and PCs start getting more and more alike, I find myself turning it on less and less. It does a great job holding down a stack of papers now. LOL

At home I have a frankenstein made up of a bunch of my older PCs, but I haven't turned it on in months now that I have my new Hp Envy 17. I love that laptop. It is sooo nice.

 

[premiercolour]

I think most of us know how to build a computer. But seriously, within components compatibility, buying this at best buy and other at compusa, amzon.com, eBay... whatever you call. It is just big hassle. If a computer needs repair, you need to unscrew this, take out your DVD player or Ram, processor and drive it to the next store. hopefully it is that component which is broken. Other wise, you'd have to put it back, take another one out and drive again! Why not just get a complete system and if something's up, pack the whole computer and on its way to the bestbuy and ask for repair. problem solved. I personally don't think that you could save much money building yours own system other than buying an existing system that was tested by the big guys and they made sure there is no problems to avoid future customer service. As mentioned, if you want to reformat the computer, few buttons away on Lenovo instead of this setup CD to the cd rom and another setup cd for another device.

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

Apple.

 

[choucove]

You make a valid claim Fieldcenter, but not for everyone. For 90% of the community that uses tech support from Dell, HP, Acer, or any other major brand out there service is VERY hard to get. After spending hours on the phone with their technical support convincing them that something actually is wrong with your system, they tell you to back up your data and send your computer in. Well, half the time you can't get back in to your computer to back things up, so lets just hope that you have a recent backup or you will lose EVERYTHING. Then, hope that they will send you out a return box and shipping label. In many cases, they won't and you will have to provide the original shipping box and pay for shipping to them. Then wait a week until your computer is next in line to be repaired, then another week for them to replace it, send it back out through distribution, and have UPS or FedEx deliver it again. All of this to replace a faulty hard drive.

Why do I describe this? Because I get to enjoy it about once a month while working in my computer business. People with systems from Dell, HP, Acer, etc. that are still under warranty and want it warranty repaired have to go through the above process and I deal with it all the time. However, in my case if a piece goes bad on my system, I can rip into it right there, swap out the part and test, and put in new hardware immediately and eliminate two weeks of downtime.

Even if you do take your computer to a local shop, it's not going to guarantee that the service will be correct or faster. One customer I had previously had his computer at the Geek Squad in our nearest Best Buy. After more than a week of waiting, he finally got his computer back. They said they had to change the boot order and some BIOS settings and test the system stability and gave him a huge invoice for it. But when he took it home things still wouldn't work. $400 worth of charges and several more trips back and forth to the Geek Squad and he finally gave up and came to me. Within ten minutes looking at his computer I could tell that he had a faulty motherboard and needed replaced, but nothing that should cost him $400 and several weeks to figure out!

As to the original question, though. For desktop computers I always will prefer custom built for myself, but I know that some others may not want to go that path. I just highly recommend that anyone that goes with a pre-built system at least stick with the Business line of computers from Dell or HP. Their consumer line is built so cheaply. And no matter what Dell or HP computer you buy you're probably paying much more for less performance than a custom-built system anyways with higher quality. For notebooks, I have worked with several HP ProBook and EliteBook notebooks and love them. I don't use a laptop anymore enough to warrant purchasing one for myself, but if I did that would be what I would go with. The highest quality I have seen in any notebook (including HP Envy and Mac laptops) with incredible customer service and unbeatable performance hardware for design work. However, if you're wanting more of a gaming laptop then I would suggest ASUS or even better Clevo/Sager power notebooks. They are very high quality as well, and have the highest performance components available on the market. I owned a Clevo D900K notebook for five years. That notebook had a desktop dual-core Athlon processor in it back when dual-core processors were first released, and while it was too big to be a portable notebook, that thing still survived a lot of travel plus nearly 24/7 use for those five years and continued trucking on to the end until one of its two hard drives finally gave out.

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

My 27" iMac runs Windows 7 pro and both OS's, everything is pretty much constantly backed-up via Time Machine. PC's are NOT cheaper when you consider all the virus protection you have to pay every year to renew. My Mac is and always will be virus-free.

Try a Mac and you'll find the user experience smooth, responsive and clean, not the crumpled herkey-jerky responsiveness of any MS OS.

 

[andy]

I love a good Dell with XP on it.... we must have at least a dozen dotted about the place.. I've also got one at home. We even have a couple of ancient machines running Win98.

Right now we're stocking up on as many used WinXP Dell's as we can get our hands on.... we don't need quad core this or bazillionabit that... just a set of machines which do the job.

If you are printing vast files then having the latest computer gear makes sense... if you've doing simple things like cutting vinyl, laser cutting or CNC routing all those extra techno trinkets are a waste of money IMO.

After wasting a grand on a cr@ppy Sony Vaio I'll never have a laptop ever again.... hateful pile of junk.

 

[jiarby]

PC's are NOT cheaper when you consider all the virus protection you have to pay every year to renew.

Linux machines don't attract virus writers either. They are also half the cost (or less!) than a MAC.

There are endless free antivirus products and other open source apps that PC users can run. AVG, AVAST etc... I have never paid for antivirus software and never had a virus either.

Macs ARE more expensive than PC's. They always have been. They always will be. That is why some people like them... it gives them an <erstatz> feeling of superiority. You HAVE to believe it is a better product (it certainly is SHINIER) to mentally justify the expense. It is a nice computer. It looks great and is well made. My point is that you can buy the same horsepower for half the price. An i7 PC perfoms the same as an i7 Mac. One has a nicer case, a proprietary kernel and costs twice as much.

I do not understand why MAC people want to run Windows & bootcamp if Mac's are so great... why do you need windows? There are no windows people dying to add Mac emulators. If the MAS O/S was so awesome don't you think that there would be a thriving community in the PC world of people trying to run a MAC O/S in an emulator like Mac guys do?

Even the Apple user community is splintering now over it... The "Hackintosh" guys know you can build a MAC with the same hardware specs for half price.